Datius of Mailand

ON ST. DATIUS, BISHOP OF MILAN.

Year of Christ 552.

Datius, Bishop of Milan (S.) BHL Number: 2101

From various sources.

Section I. The episcopate, writings, and charity of St. Datius.

[1] Datius—called Dacius and Dasius by others—a man outstanding in piety and learning, was born at Milan (as is recorded in the Acts of the Church of Milan and by John de Deis in his catalogue of the successors of St. Barnabas, compiled from the Vatican Library and the manuscripts of Cardinal Sirleto) into the Aliatia family, one of the most illustrious. The family of St. Datius, What he did before his episcopate has not been committed to writing; what followed, various authors have touched upon in passing. The exact time of his accession to the episcopate cannot be determined with certainty. If he sat for twenty-two years, as most maintain, it will be possible to deduce from the year of his death below that he was elected around the year of Christ 530. His episcopate, His early years in office were publicly peaceful, while the Gothic affairs were governed by the singular prudence and equity of Amalasuentha.

[2] St. Magnus, the twenty-eighth Bishop of that Church, is established as Datius's predecessor by the cited Acts of the Church, John de Deis, Ferrarius in his catalogue of the Saints of Italy on January 14 and November 5 (the feast of Magnus), and Joseph Ripamontius in his History of Milan, decade 1, book 7, where he writes: "After Eustorgius, who had been made Bishop by Felix IV and had died in the eighth year of his pontificate and been buried in the Laurentine basilica, His predecessor, Magnus of the Trincheria family had governed the affairs and condition of this Church, but for no more than three years. He was then succeeded by Datius, suited for great affairs on account of his zeal for wisdom and his knowledge of the vicissitudes of life. For it was his care and labor to record deeds for posterity and to commit human stratagems to written records. To these were added the heavenly gifts of integrity and candor, and he was commonly reckoned among the holy Bishops." So he writes. The cited authors say the same. But we shall show on June 6 that Eustorgius II held his see before the time of Felix IV. Erycius Puteanus, book 1 of the Insubric History, and Claudius Robert in the appendix to Gallia Christiana, maintain that Magnus succeeded Datius—a matter we shall investigate on November 5.

[3] John de Deis asserts that Datius wrote a history of his own time and lives of his predecessors. His writings, The Acts of the Church of Milan, Puteanus, and others record that he composed books of Annals, in which among other things he testifies, book 1, chapter 10, that by the holy Fathers Ambrose and Augustine, immediately after the baptism of Augustine, with the entire populace looking on in amazement, that hymn "Te Deum Laudamus" was sung alternately and extemporaneously, and that from then on it began to be used throughout the universal Church. So Possevinus, and from him Vossius, On the Latin Historians. Anastasius Bibliothecarius also mentions the Reports of Datius in his account of the Pontiffs, under Silverius: "Then the city and the port of Rome were besieged by the Goths for one year. The patrician Belisarius, however, defeated the Goths in battle, and afterward the Goths fled to Ravenna after one year. At the same time there was so great a famine throughout the whole world that Datius, Bishop of Milan, clearly narrated this in his report—namely that in the regions of Liguria, women had eaten their own sons due to the severity of the famine, and he reported that these women belonged to the household of his own Church." The same account of this famine and Datius's report is found in book 16 of the Historia Miscella, chapter 15: "Besides the pressure of war, Rome was further afflicted by the distress of famine. For so great a famine had grown that year throughout the entire world, and especially in Liguria, that, as the most blessed Datius, Bishop of Milan, reported, many mothers devoured the limbs of their unfortunate children." These Reports might perhaps be regarded as epistolary narratives.

[4] Here the excellent Bishop must have poured out his bowels of mercy: not only did he himself exhaust the granaries and storehouses both his own and the Church's, but he also undertook the patronage of the wretched before others, His mercy toward the needy. and even implored the munificence of the Goths. Witness is Marcus Aurelius Cassiodorus, who granted St. Datius the authority to sell grain from the royal granaries to the poor at a low price—having doubtless been persuaded by him to come to the aid of public calamity. Thus he writes to him in book 12 of the Variae, letter 27:

[5] "Senator, Praetorian Prefect, to Datius, Bishop of Milan. Cassiodorus's letter to him. It avails little to command what is good unless we wish to accomplish it through most holy men. For the right will of the just augments a benefit; and whatever is done without deceit is truly credited to the merits of the giver. For it is fitting that priestly purity should carry out the liberality of the Prince. For he whose purpose it is to do good from his own resources can laudably fulfill the wishes of others. And therefore we ask your holiness (whose purpose is to serve the divine commands) that from the granaries of Ticinum and Dertona you cause the species of millet, as the Prince has commanded, He is permitted to sell royal grain to the poor at a low price. to be distributed to the hungry people at the rate of twenty-five modii per solidus, a third portion, under our direction—so that it may not come through anyone's venality to those who seem able to sustain themselves from their own resources. Let the one who has less receive the princely munificence. It was seen fit to assist the needy, not the rich: for he pours rather who sends into a full vessel, since what is gathered in empty vessels is rather stored away. Wherefore let your holiness not consider the offices of compassion an injury, for everything is worthy of you where piety is found. For to faithfully carry out the desires of others is to perfect one's own good. For the management of which matter we have seen fit, with God's help, to dispatch such-and-such persons, who, obeying the directives of your holiness, shall do nothing on their own, but strive only to obey you. Moreover, declare to us by your report how many solidi can be collected from the aforesaid quantity of millet, so that, being stored with the Treasury, they may be reserved for the purchase of the aforesaid species in future times, God willing—after the fashion of a garment made new, whose union is dissolved by threads so that it may be *woven in a new appearance with splendid beauty."

[6] So Cassiodorus, with a notable commendation of Datius for his beneficence toward the poor, his fidelity, and his piety. Ripamontius says the inscription of this letter was: When this letter was written. "Cassiodorus to Datius, most holy Archbishop of Milan." But in what copy he read this he does not indicate. Baronius, volume 7 of the Annals, thinks the letter was written in the year of Christ 534. Guillaume Fournier in his Notes on Cassiodorus places it after the consulship of Belisarius, at the time when Belisarius, resisting Witigis, King of the Goths, was holding Rome by force. But this occurred in the third year after the consulship of Belisarius, Indiction 15, year of Christ 537—in which year the siege of Rome began, as the continuator of Marcellinus writes, and Procopius in book 2 of the Gothic War, and the latter records that after a siege of one year and nine days the city was liberated around the vernal equinox of the year 538. Puteanus says Cassiodorus wrote to Datius before Mundilas occupied Milan; Sigonius does not cite this letter until after Milan was destroyed.

* Perhaps "texatur" be woven.

Section II. Milan delivered to Belisarius; recaptured and destroyed by the Goths.

[7] The continuator of Marcellinus Comes, Indiction 1, John sole Consul, that is, year of Christ 538, writes: "While Witigis still lingered Rome freed from the Gothic siege. in the siege of Rome, John the Master of Soldiers, with Batzes, Cono, Paul, and Rema, illustrious men, having prepared a great army, hasten to Italy, establish their camp at the port of Rome, and come to the aid of struggling Rome. Witigis, perceiving their arrival, confirms a truce of three months with Belisarius and sends his own envoys to the Emperor."

[8] Procopius relates the same in greater detail, and writes that during this period of truce St. Datius came to Belisarius and implored his aid against the Goths: "At about the same time," he says, Datius asks for help against the Goths: "the Priest of the Milanese, Datius, and some of the leading citizens came to Rome and earnestly besought Belisarius to send a few soldiers with him as a garrison, saying that they could with no trouble recover not only Milan but all of Liguria from the Goths for the Emperor. This city, inhabited by the Ligurians, is situated roughly midway on the route between Ravenna and the Alps that border on Gaul; whence the journey in either direction is about eight days for a man traveling light. It is the chief city among those of the West after Rome, both in size, and in the number of its inhabitants, and in other advantages of fortune." Belisarius promised these envoys he would satisfy their requests, but remained wintering in the same place.

[9] Do not, however, suspect that this most holy man was recklessly the author or abettor of revolution among the people. By what right: The atrocious injuries inflicted on the citizens and the violated liberty of the orthodox sacred rites—which had been agreed upon—are easily explained by the savage temperaments of the barbarians and the never-failing perfidy of heresy. Concerning this legation Baronius pronounces thus in the year 538, final number: "This Datius, therefore, distinguished for the sanctity of his life, used every effort to liberate from the Goths—who were also Arians—the peoples subject to his spiritual governance. By which example you may sufficiently understand that those Bishops do not deserve calumny, nor ought they to suffer ill will, who leave no stone unturned to avoid living under a heretical prince." From this the hatred of the impious burned all the more fiercely against Datius, so that, as St. Gregory testifies below, driven out on account of the faith, he proceeded to the city of Constantinople.

[10] Ferrarius wrongly assigns this legation to the following year, 539. When: John de Deis is even further off, writing that St. Datius, having suffered many injuries from the Goths, set out with a great number of Milanese citizens to the city of Constantinople to the Emperor Justinian, from whom he obtained the sending of the general Belisarius to Italy to subdue the Gothic nation—to whom he was also of the greatest assistance in accomplishing this. But he confuses two different journeys of Datius. Let us return to the Roman one.

[11] When Rome was freed from the Gothic siege and various cities secured for Justinian, Belisarius, says Procopius, "sent Isaurians and Thracians, about a thousand men, to Milan. He placed Ennes over the Isaurians, Paul over the Thracians; but entrusted the overall command to Mundilas." He obtains it. And soon: "They head for Milan and gain possession of the city together with the whole region of Liguria." Then Datius, as Ripamontius writes, "having thus obtained reinforcements and liberated the city, was doubtless regarded as a father of the state." St. Antoninus also treats of these events, part 2, chapter 4, title 12, section 3.

[12] But this happiness and joy for the city was not long-lasting. For scarcely had it admitted the Greek soldiery with Mundilas when it was besieged by the Goths. Milan is besieged by the Goths; For Vraias, sent by Witigis, attacked the city fiercely. Burgundians too were sent by Theodebert, King of the Franks, to aid the barbarians. There was no longer sufficient strength either in the Bishop Datius (if he was besieged in the city with the rest, as Baronius and Ripamontius write) or in Mundilas and the Greeks. For the forces they had brought from Rome they had distributed among the towns surrounding Milan, retaining only three hundred soldiers with themselves. When Belisarius learned that Milan was besieged by the Goths, he sent the generals Martin and Uliaris with considerable forces. They delayed at the river Po, the Greeks not coming to the rescue, through cowardice and fear. Mundilas (and perhaps Datius, if he was present) and the leading men of Milan sent Paul the Roman to them; who, having crossed by swimming, urged Martin and Uliaris to advance. When Paul returned to the city, they also returned to their old ways; and to excuse their delay, they wrote to Belisarius that the Po could not be crossed because the Goths were in the way. Belisarius ordered Narses to gather forces and come to the aid of the besieged. "Narses favored the genius as well as the sanctity of Bishop Datius," says Ripamontius, "and for that man's sake wished to save the city." He therefore immediately sent Justin and John. But John fell ill when marching from Aemilia, and the soldiers did not advance with their commander sick.

[13] Meanwhile the besieged, having long withstood the assault, were overcome by famine. The city is surrendered, "There is," says Ripamontius, "in the Annals of Datius himself (horrible to say), an infant roasted by maternal care and placed back in the same womb that had not yet recovered from childbirth." Reduced to extremity by this common necessity, Mundilas and the citizens surrendered. But no pledge of faith restrained the cruelty. Cruelly destroyed. As if they were rebels below the terms of the agreement, a truly pitiable slaughter was inflicted upon the walls, buildings, and the people themselves. Three hundred thousand men were killed. Puteanus recoiled at the number and wrote thirty thousand. Alas, even that is too many—unless it was three hundred thousand that Procopius wrote. The women whom youth and beauty commended were given into servitude and the lust of the Burgundians. Reparatus, the primary author of the defection to the Romans, was cut to pieces and thrown to the dogs as food. Birgentius, his associate, escaped by flight and made his way through Dalmatia to Constantinople.

[14] Baronius and Ripamontius suppose that Datius also secretly escaped the cruelty of the victors. Ghinius in his Natals of the Holy Canons writes What happened to St. Datius then. (on what authority?) that by Datius's persuasion the city of Milan was freed from devastation by the Goths. The continuator of the Chronicle of Marcellinus Comes records that in Indiction 2, Appion sole Consul, that is, year of Christ 539, the Goths entered Milan, destroyed the walls, seized the plunder, killed all the Romans, and carried off the generals Mundilas and Paul to Ravenna. One might deem it probable that Datius too was captured, but was later restored to liberty through the favor of his old friend Cassiodorus. Sigonius certainly, book 18 on the Western Empire, supposes him to have been present at Milan during the disaster—at which time the cited letter of Cassiodorus was written, and a most severe shortage of provisions was suffered in Liguria and throughout Italy. If that was so, certainly the city began to rise from such a great disaster through Datius's industry. Bernardino Corio, who woefully confuses everything that happened at that time, records that after the city was destroyed, the Bishop together with other priests of the cathedral fixed his residence at Noxeta.

Section III. St. Datius's journey to Constantinople. Demons put to flight from his lodging.

[15] "Belisarius," says the continuator of the Chronicle of Marcellinus Comes, "in Indiction 3, Justin the Younger sole Consul, that is, year of Christ 540, enters Ravenna, and taking King Witigis and the Queen and all their wealth and the Gothic nobles with him, returns to the Emperor." But the Goths remaining beyond the Po plan to rebel, Totila reigns. appointing Heldebad as their King (called Hildibald by others, and Ildibald). Then in Indiction 4, Basil sole Consul, year of Christ 541, after Hildibald is killed, they install Eraric as their King. When he too is killed in Indiction 5, after the consulship of Basil, they raised Totila to the throne—a keen and shrewd man who is recorded to have fought his wars most successfully not so much by the sword as by clemency and kindness. But he was certainly not well-disposed to the Catholic religion, and especially as a heretic he persecuted the Bishops. We shall provide no small amount of evidence on March 1 in the life of St. Herculanus II, Bishop of Perugia; on March 21 in St. Benedict the Abbot; on May 22 in St. Fulgentius, Bishop of Otricoli; on October 10 in St. Cerbonius of Populonia, and elsewhere.

[16] Under this prince we conjecture that St. Datius was driven out on account of the faith, around the year 545, following Sigonius. St. Datius is expelled: That he then went to Constantinople, and what he did on the journey, St. Gregory relates, book 3, Dialogues, chapter 4: "During the reign of the same prince," he says, "namely Justinian, when Datius, Bishop of the city of Milan, driven out on account of the faith, was making his way to the city of Constantinople, he arrived at Corinth. When he was seeking a large house for lodging, one that could accommodate his entire retinue, and could scarcely find one, he spotted from afar a house of suitable size and ordered it to be prepared for his lodging. When the inhabitants of the place told him He lodges in a house infested by demons: that he could not stay there, since the devil had inhabited it for many years now and it had therefore remained vacant, the venerable man Datius responded, saying: 'On the contrary, we ought to lodge in that very house, if the malign spirit has invaded it and driven away human habitation.' He therefore ordered it to be prepared for him, and confidently entered it, ready to endure the assaults of the ancient enemy. And so, in the silence of the dead of night, while the man of God was resting, the ancient enemy began to imitate with immense voices and great clamors the roars of lions, the bleating of sheep, the braying of asses, the hissing of serpents, the grunting of pigs, and the squeaking of mice. Then Datius, suddenly roused by the voices of so many beasts, rose up and, greatly angered, He puts them to flight. began to shout with loud voice against the ancient enemy, saying: 'Well does it befit you, wretch! You are the one who said: "I will place my throne in the north, and I will be like the Most High." Behold, through your pride you have become like pigs and mice! And you who unworthily wished to imitate God, behold (as you deserve), you imitate beasts!' At his voice, the malign spirit, ashamed, as it were, of his abasement—or was he not ashamed?—who no longer entered that house to perform the monstrosities he had been accustomed to! And so it was afterward made a habitation for the faithful: because when one truly faithful man entered it, the lying and faithless spirit immediately departed from it." St. Antoninus relates the same, part 2, chapter 9, title 12, section 8; Peter de Natali, book 11, chapter 99; Vincent of Beauvais, book 22, chapter 74; and Ripamontius somewhat more ornately, though he sometimes departs a little both from the simplicity of St. Gregory and from the truth.

Section IV. Labors for the Catholic faith.

[17] What the Three Chapters were. At this very time the celebrated controversy over the Three Chapters arose. Theodore, Bishop of Mopsuestia, had formerly written commentaries on the faith, in which he so asserted the two natures in Christ as to seem to have paved the way for the Nestorian heresy, which posited two persons. After the condemnation of Nestorius, these were spread abroad among the public by his supporters and agitated with various disputes after the Council of Ephesus, held in 431—Rabula, Bishop of Edessa, being their principal opponent. Ibas, Rabula's successor, wrote a letter to Maris the Persian, in which he reproached both Cyril of Alexandria, the fiercest adversary of Nestorius, and his predecessor Rabula, equally with Nestorius; but praised Theodore. Nevertheless, Ibas was received at the Council of Chalcedon in 451, after he had first pronounced anathema on Nestorius and Eutyches. At the same council, Theodoret, Bishop of Cyrrhus, was also admitted, even though he had published a stinging commentary against Cyril's anathemas. For in the still-recent discord between the Easterners and the Egyptians, it then seemed necessary to overlook these things—especially since Ibas and Theodoret now held Catholic views.

[18] Later condemned by the Greeks. A full century later the fire that had lain hidden beneath the ashes was rekindled. For the Emperor Justinian himself, at the instigation of Theodore, Bishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia, patron of the Acephali, in the year 546 published a book in which Theodore of Mopsuestia, the letter of Ibas, and Theodoret's commentary against Cyril were condemned. At first the Catholics objected, considering that the authority of the Council of Chalcedon was being undermined. Nor was it indeed the Emperor's right to initiate such a matter. He prevailed, however, and compelled Mennas, Patriarch of Constantinople, and others to subscribe. Then, St. Datius resists these measures, says Baronius in the year 546, no. 45, "he strongly urged the Apocrisiarius of the Apostolic See who was then residing there, the deacon Stephen, to do the same. But so far was he from being able to impel him to do this, that he found him a very great adversary of his endeavors—as also Datius, Bishop of Milan, who was likewise then at Constantinople." The same Datius and Stephen warned the absent Roman Pontiff Vigilius. "Indeed Datius, Bishop of Milan," says Facundus of Hermiane in his book against the scholastic Mocianus, "along with other priests, did not think that communion with such prevaricators should be maintained; and therefore, as is reported from a letter of Pope Vigilius to Mennas written from his journey, he withdrew himself, together with his fellow bishops and many sons of the Church, from communion with the same Mennas."

[19] Meanwhile the Emperor summoned the Roman Pontiff himself to Constantinople. Vigilius hastily departed from Rome to Sicily and spent the winter there. He meets Pope Vigilius, Datius met him there and informed him of everything that had been done at Constantinople, as Vigilius himself testifies in the cited letter. What else was done in the meantime, the same Facundus, book 4, Defense of the Three Chapters, chapter 3, and others relate. When Vigilius arrived at Constantinople, "he was harassed," says Ripamontius, "by every vicissitude of affairs, and had as his most vigorous defender and participant in all his counsels the Milanese Bishop." He assists him. Everything that was done there need not all be recounted here. We shall briefly touch upon a few matters in which it is certain Datius took part, though his industry and fidelity never failed Vigilius until his death.

[20] Having convened a synod of thirty Bishops who were present at Constantinople, Vigilius commanded each to set forth in writing what he believed and the reasons for his belief. After other proceedings, he issued a decree—with Datius present— In Datius's presence, Vigilius imposes silence on the parties, 547, approved by both sides, that both parties should remain silent concerning the controversy until the next council to be convened. So he himself states in the document of the sentence by which he deprived Theodore of Caesarea, the violator of that decree and the author of all the troubles, of his priesthood and communion: "This too," he says, "was agreed upon at length between ourselves and the most clement Prince, with Mennas, Bishop of the city of Constantinople, and Datius, Bishop of Milan, present, He deposes Theodore, who does not comply, 551. together with other Bishops, both Greek and Latin, among all of whom you also, Theodore, were equally present—as well as in the presence of judges and nobles and the entire Senate—that until the aforesaid conciliar definition, nothing should be attempted regarding the aforesaid Three Chapters." This sentence against Theodore was issued on the nineteenth day before the Kalends of September, in the twenty-fifth year of the reign of the Lord Justinian, perpetual Augustus, in the eleventh year after the consulship of the most illustrious Basil—that is, the year of Christ 551. Datius was present on that occasion too. "In the person and authority of the Blessed Apostle Peter," says Vigilius, "whose place, however unworthy, we hold, together with Datius of Milan, John of Marsica," etc., "our brothers and fellow Bishops, by this promulgation of sentence we decree that Theodore, formerly Bishop of the city of Caesarea in Cappadocia, is stripped of both his priestly honor and Catholic communion, and of all episcopal office and authority."

Section V. The death and public veneration of St. Datius.

[21] If Datius died on January 14—the day on which he is inscribed in the ecclesiastical tables—this must have occurred in the year of Christ 552. St. Datius died in the year 552, Not earlier, since on the nineteenth day before the Kalends of September of the preceding year he was still alive, as stated above. Not later, since in that same year 552, in which Narses led his army against Totila, Datius's as-yet-unconsecrated successor was summoned to Ravenna. This is evident Not later. from a letter of Pope Pelagius—who had succeeded Vigilius when the latter died in Sicily of calculus pains in the year of Christ 554, after the thirteenth consulship of Basil, Indiction 2—to Narses, which is found both in volume 2 of the Councils and in Gratian's Decree, chapter "Non vos," 23, question 5, at the end: "Your Highness," he says, "should recall what God accomplished through you at that time when, while the tyrant Totila possessed Istria and Venetia, and the Franks were also devastating everything, you did not permit the Bishop of Milan to be appointed until you had referred the matter to the most clement Prince and had again recognized by his written reply what ought to be done; and amid enemies raging on every side, both he who was to be ordained and he who was to ordain were brought to Ravenna by the foresight of your highness."

[22] The same is clear from the Chronicle of Victor Tunnunensis: "Datius," he says, "Bishop of Milan, came to Constantinople, Totila defeated in the same year. and consenting to the condemnation of the Three Chapters, was struck down and died on that very day. Narses the Eunuch, from Provost made Patrician, marvelously defeats and kills Totila, King of the Goths, in Italy, and seizes all his riches." So Victor, an obstinate defender of the Three Chapters even to the point of schism, assigning the death of Datius and the slaying of Totila to the same year—though wrongly making that year the fourteenth after the consulship of Basil, that is, the year of Christ 555. Baronius in his Annals assigns Narses's victory to the year 553, but more correctly in his Notes on the Martyrology, to the year 552, which was the eighteenth year of the Gothic War that began in 535; and at that year Procopius and the continuator of the Chronicle of Marcellinus end the war, in Indiction 15, as the latter notes, after the eleventh consulship of Basil.

[23] Datius did not attend the Fifth Ecumenical Council: From this one may first refute those who wrote that Datius was present at the Fifth Ecumenical Council, which began, as the Acts state, in the twenty-seventh year of the reign of the Lord Justinian, after the twelfth consulship of Basil, on the fourth day before the Nones of May, Indiction 1—that is, the year of Christ 553. The occasion for error was given to the author of the Acts of the Church of Milan, to Ripamontius, Puteanus, and others, by the fact that Datius had been present at the particular synods previously convened by Vigilius.

[24] Nor did he return to Milan. Secondly, it is clear that Ferrarius and Ripamontius are mistaken in asserting that Datius returned to Milan and died there. Moreover, the same and others are woefully mistaken about the year of Datius's death. Ferrarius sets it at 545, contradicting himself; Ripamontius at 556; others at 561—to which the Acts of the Church of Milan and John de Deis subscribe, maintaining that he was elected under Pope Vigilius (who, after the relegation of St. Silverius in 538, legitimately began to govern the Church only in 540) and yet that he sat for twenty-two years. John de Deis explicitly writes that he lived under Pelagius I and John III, of whom the latter succeeded the former in the year 560. Claudius Robert writes that Datius sat from the year 521 to 561.

[25] His body later brought back and honored as a Saint. His body was carried back from Constantinople to Milan and placed in the church of St. Victor—perhaps at the time when Narses restored that city. He was also enrolled among the Saints. Galesinius reports that his name is inscribed in the Litanies of the Church of Milan in many places and in a very ancient manuscript book on the Saints of the same Church, and honors him in his Martyrology with this eulogy: "At Milan, of St. Datius, Bishop and Confessor. After he had religiously administered the Church of Milan for twenty-two years, renowned for the praise of episcopal virtues, he rested in the Lord." The Roman Martyrology states: "At Milan, of St. Datius, Bishop and Confessor, whom Blessed Pope Gregory mentions." Molanus in his Additions to Usuard and the German Martyrology also treat of him.